


Duplicate

by HeatherGiesbrecht



Category: House M.D., The Night Manager (TV)
Genre: Anger, Betrayal, Cell Phones, Complete, Cross-Generation Relationship, Crossover, Crying, Emotional Hurt, Gen, London, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Language, Nervousness, Non-Canon Relationship, One Shot, Open/Ambigous Ending, Past Relationship(s), Post-Series, Slash, Walks In The Park, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6839626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeatherGiesbrecht/pseuds/HeatherGiesbrecht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The man looked almost exactly like Roper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Duplicate

Pine froze in his tracks and a disbelieving whisper of, “Dickie ?” left his lips.

Confused, fearful and just a bit elated he turned around to look after the man who’d just walked by. Those features were almost an exact duplicate of Di-, no, it was Roper again, a duplicate of Roper’s. The only difference really was that this man’s hair was black and grey instead of brown and grey. Both had bright blue eyes, cool and calculating. Roper’s had always been cool, except for when his betrayal had come to light. It still hurt to remember the pain that’d filled Roper’s eyes, the astonishing hatred that’d burned away any love the man’d felt for him, any hope of reconciliation.

He’d thought that bringing Roper in would help absolve him of his guilt over not stopping Sophie’s murder. In a way it had, but it had also brought new guilt because just like Angela said he’d gotten in way too deep not only with Roper but also with Jed and Danny. The world seemed to blur as he stepped off the path into the shade of a tree, the happy chatter of the park faded away as he pulled his phone out and hit the familiar number.

It seemed to take forever before, “Burr speaking.” filled his ear.

“Angela, it’s me.”

“Jonathan ?” Too shocked by something to use the new identity she’d given him. “Ssh, ssh, you don’t have to cry. What is it, Jonathan ? What’s wrong ?”

Cry ? Unconsciously, he raised a hand to his cheek and was surprised when it came away wet. “I-I, ahem, is Roper still, is he still... ?”

“Locked up ? Yes, he is. I just checked on him this morning and he was a right bastard about it too. Why do you ask ?”  
“Because I swear I could’ve just seen him in Hyde Park, except he had black hair and a cane. Am I going mad, Angela ?” Jonathan shouldered his phone and wiped away the tears with his sleeve.

“No, Jonathan, you’re probably just so used to seeing Roper that he seems like he’s everywhere now.” Angela chuckled. “Considering how we still know so little about his home life maybe Roper’s got an identical twin or something that he never told you about. Let’s hope it’s not a family business if that’s true.”

“Yes, let’s not. I know it’ll probably come up with nothing and, really, I’ve got no right to ask anymore, but...could you check anyway ?”

“You risked your life multiple times to give me vital information that took out an international black market smuggling operation the least I can do is try looking up a little thing like this. Give me a few moments and I’ll get back to you.” Near silence for a bit, except for the sounds of typing and clicking before Angela came back on the line. “Well, I found an American doctor. His name’s Gregory House, but there’s nothing here about his being adopted or even having a sibling for that matter. I think it’s just you finding Roper’s doppelganger at an inopportune time.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve got the day off tomorrow, how about you come down to my place for morning tea ? It sounds like it might do you some good.”

“That sounds nice. How about I show up at, mm, say, 9-ish ?”

“I’ll have it ready for you. Be safe.”

“I will.”

Pine ended the call and took a few deep breaths. Maybe he should keep an eye on Dr. House ? No, no, he didn’t want to turn into Corkoran spying on people for any and every reason. Just drop everything where it was, go home and read a book. Take some time to just...relax. He deserved it after everything that’d happened, didn’t he ? Didn’t he ?


End file.
